Sample testing facilities, such as laboratories, spend a considerable amount of time and money ordering, storing, recording, and requesting data and documentation pertaining to sample collection and tracking the custody and control of the samples. Chain of custody records are commonly utilized in these types of facilities due to the nature of the samples and the specific instructions and requirements for the collection and handling of the samples. As such, it is very important that no mistakes are made in collecting, tracking, recording, and transmitting the samples, such as mislabeling a sample with the incorrect sample identification or site project information. Thus, environmental facilities incur great expense and time to ensure that the custody and control of samples is well-documented and correct.
Currently, most laboratories receive sample data and documentation, such as handwritten notes, handwritten bottle labels, handwritten custody seals (such as stickers) on the outside of coolers, and handwritten lab instructions from field technicians that are collecting the samples. The laboratories then manually enter the data that they received from the field technicians into their systems, and sometimes add barcodes to the bottles and coolers. In addition, the laboratories manually note that relevant information on chain of custody (COC) forms into their data system and compare COC information to sample bottle information and/or sample cooler information. Along with the inefficiencies associated with such a process, laboratories often have trouble deciphering handwritten data and information, which results in inaccurate and/or lost information corresponding to a specific collected sample.
Chain of custody forms are necessary to document and track a sample collection process in order to know who possessed the sample and where the sample has been from the time of collection through delivery to a laboratory. The most important item in the chain of custody form is a unique identifier/label to identify the sample in each bottle, cooler, and/or container. A laboratory cannot complete a sample collection and analysis until it has a unique identifier on the bottle, container, and/or cooler corresponding to the sample. Laboratories commonly generate and add their own unique identifier to the bottle, container, and/or cooler in the form of a barcode or unique sample identification number. They then must manually record and match up all of the data and documentation received through a paper chain of custody form for a sample with the unique barcode or unique sample identification number. This process results in data entry errors and is unnecessarily time consuming and costly.
A further problem of having paper chain of custody forms is the inefficiency involved in marrying the actual sample bottles, containers, and coolers from the field with the data and documentation found in and associated with chain of custody forms. Turnaround time is often much slower with the current process since laboratories must wait to receive mailed copies of the chain of custody forms. The laboratory employees must then search for, process, and marry the chain of custody forms with the corresponding sample bottles. Thus, there is a need for a less time-consuming, more accurate, and more efficient system and method for managing the collection of sample data and documentation.